Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry, it is organic. The riparian buffer zone rate is €1,500 per acre. The equivalent figure for permanent pasture is €200 but it is possible to get €300 for organic farming. It is important for farmers to know this information.

I have several queries. Regarding the overseas funding budget, and I see it is in again, I understood we paid all this a few years ago. I remember we were all in here a few years ago and that this had been front-loaded and paid off. Why are we paying it again?

There also seems to be a great deal of money on the fisheries side. I am no expert on fishing, but it seems €6 million has not been paid out in the context of an industry that, from everything I see, is under pressure. I also worry about the €46 million in the context of the environmental schemes. I refer to farmers who did not go back into GLAS or extend their contracts, I presume. This €46 million is a lot of money. If we add this figure to the €3 million for ANCs, then this gives us a total of nearly €50 million that could have been allocated to farmers but that they never got.

The Chair also brought up another issue earlier. We have less spending on tuberculosis even though I think the report yesterday said we are under a bit of pressure on this issue. I was in Brussels yesterday, so I have not read the report. It is, though, important to note this point as well.

Regarding the new forestry programme, and the Minister has spoken about it, my understanding is that there is an increase in funding in the broadleaf sector. If we look at the premium, however, with the rejigging that has been done on the spruce side of things and the percentage of hardwoods that must be brought in, and the extra cost involved in doing that, then the percentage for the people involved in this is very low. It is just a point I have made note of.

I spoke to the Minister last week and in fairness, he has said that young entrants will be brought in and I welcome that.

On the approximate figure of €46 million in respect of GLAS that has not been claimed because farmers may not have land because the lease might be up or whatever and it is therefore a loss to them, can I ask the Minister to do one thing? At the moment, Teagasc planners are telling farmers that in some instances, they cannot take them even though they are with Teagasc. Some people have got phone calls. We have private planners and I spoke to someone who knocked off their phone on Sunday evening because they simply cannot cope with the number of farmers. Can the Minister address this for their sake and that of their home lives, as well as for the farmers who are out there? We are not saying that every farmer in the world is going to get into it but it will cause an awful divide in cases where a planner is saying to someone who was with them for five years that they cannot get to them. This is in the cases of both Teagasc and the ordinary private planners. Can the Minister do it now, rather than at the last hour or the last minute, when the harm has been done and when the people have fallen out with one another? At the moment, people are being refused in respect of doing plans and that is not a good situation. While by no means am I saying that everyone will get in, this is resulting in the planners basically ending up being called X, Y and Z, not the nicest names in the world, because they will not be able to do it. We should give everyone a fair crack at it and hopefully after that we can try to get as many as possible in. I urge the Minister to do that. This is not a populist thing but it is a matter of the planners themselves physically not being able to do it. They have to have an app on their phones and they have to go out and take the photos and it is taking a lot longer than doing something on a desktop. It would be helpful if the Minister could do that.

On the issue of the ANCs, the Minister said that 5,000 farmers did not reach the target. The average ANC amount, if they were all up to the top, is €1.5 million. Are fewer farmers now applying? There is more of a reason than that of the aforementioned 5,000 farmers, because had every one of them been paid the full €3,000 or whatever bar was on the mountains, they would get a higher rate and it would not work out as being near that figure.

Other than that, all I am saying to the Minister is that it would be good if the Department - I know it is doing this - would address these schemes. I am an great believer in town hall meetings. It is a pity in my opinion and although the Department has done a few of them, it might be no harm if all helped out. It would be helpful to know the different schemes that are there for farmers to try to follow and to know what is of the most benefit to them. I welcome the change in the single farm payment. I stood with the Minister in marts on that issue. I welcome the likes of the ANC, even though that payment will stand still. I have always said that one needs acres for the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, and that it is tough. I was speaking with a farmer today who had 8 ha and it is tough on them because they are trying to find which would be best. In the line of that scheme, the beef data and genomics scheme and the new beef environmental efficiency programme, BEEP, the Minister announced, we need to make sure that the farmers know how to avail of the best moneys that are out there for them.